Balancing China's growing influence in the Pacific with New Zealand's renewed relationship with the US are expected to be key features of a major defence review.
The Defence Force hosts an international military exercise (file). Photo: SUPPLIED
The Defence White Paper was due to be finished last year but, after delays, will now be released in March or April.
It sets out the capabilities of the Defence Force and the international environment it operates in.
Victoria University professor of strategic studies Robert Ayson said he would be looking for four things in the White Paper: New Zealand's strategic position; where the Defence Force was likely to be used; defence capabilities; and financial resources.
"I think we'll be a bit more explicitly tougher on China in the White Paper," he said.
"We'll talk about China as a partner but we will emphasise some of the things that China is doing to make things more difficult, including Asia's maritime spaces, and we'll seem a bit closer to America's positions on that."
An Air Force Orion touches down after helping search for missing airliner MH370 in 2014. Photo: RNZ / Kate Newton
Prof Ayson said the paper would also lay out the plan for replacing the Navy's frigates and the Air Force's Hercules and Orion aircraft.
"These are going to be challenges. Even in the best of circumstances there are going to be challenges; you only replace this type of equipment 25, 30, perhaps even more years. These are big decisions."
Balancing China and the US
Former defence minister and White Paper advisory panel member Wayne Mapp said a lot had happened since the 2010 White Paper.
Dr Mapp said balancing relationships with China and the US was "the key thing".
"It's in our interest to have good relationships with the two great nations of the Asia-Pacific."
There were fundamentals New Zealand had to be able to deal with, including monitoring its own Exclusive Economic Zone and any reasonably predictable event in the South Pacific, he said.
A Defence Force soldier helps train local troops in Iraq in 2015. Photo: New Zealand Defence Force
The threat of terrorism and rise of Islamic insurgency in the Middle East were also likely to be mentioned.
But Massey University senior lecturer in security studies Anna Powles said the Defence Force's capabilities limited what it could do beyond the Asia-Pacific region.
"I imagine that it will identify the growing influences of these non-traditional actors within the region, as well as the broader international security threats," Dr Powles said.
Australia is also due to release its own Defence White Paper in March.
